Chief turns teacher as non-local tutors flee Garissa

Civil servants and other staff from non-governmental organizations from Garissa have decided to dedicate their free time to teach in schools where non-local teachers have left following mass transfers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

At Iftin Primary School, area chief Dekow Mohammud has volunteered to take over the Mathematics and Religious lessons for Class Eight pupils who he says are the most vulnerable at the moment.

Dekow, who was a teacher before joining the former provincial administration, said he was personally touched when he learned that 23 non-local teachers at the school had left leaving behind only 12 teachers to take care of a school with a population of over 2,000 pupils.

Chief Mohammud says he begins his classes at around 6am until break time before he goes back to his office to serve the public in his capacity as the chief.

Muhidin Mowlid, a staff at the Ijara Constituency office, is another volunteer who has chosen to offer his services to the school to teach Islamic studies.

He appealed to TSC CEO Nancy Macharia to rescind her decision of transferring teachers saying it was going against the rights of children to education.

The school’s head teacher Siyat Hussein said the performance of the school is likely to suffer, calling on area leaders to convene a crisis meeting to come up with a solution.

He said the school has a population of 2500 and 17 teachers which will not sustain the education and performance of the school.